THE EXCELLENCE OF THE ARAB HORSE 109 



created Adam out of mud. What the horse most 

 yearns after is the combat and the race. He is also 

 preferable to the mare for the purpose of war, 

 because he is more fleet and patient of fatigue, and 

 because he shares his rider's emotions of hatred or 

 tenderness. Now, whence come the Arabs of the 

 present day? It is related by many historians 

 that , . . the first man who, after Adam, mounted 

 the horse was Ishmael, the father of the Arabs. 

 He was the son of Lord Abraham, beloved of 

 Allah. 



' There was a tradition that some Arabs of the 

 Arzed tribe went up to Jerusalem the noble, to con- 

 gratulate Solomon on his marriage with the Queen 

 of Saba. . . . Solomon thereupon gave orders to 

 bring from his stables a magnificent stallion de- 

 scended from Ishmael stock, and then dismissed 

 them. These Arabs on their return home devoted 

 him to foal-getting. . . . This is the stock whose 

 high renown spread at a later period through the 

 whole world. In fact, it was propagated both in 

 the East and the West in the train of the Arabs. . . . 

 Since the introduction of Islamism the Mussulman 

 invasions extended the fame of Arab horses to Italy, 

 Spain, and even to France, where, without doubt, 

 they have left traces of their blood. . . . Invasions 

 transplanted the Arab horse into the Soudan, and 

 justify our asserting the oneness of the Arab stock 

 whether in Algeria or in the East. . . . There 

 remains now only one question to settle with you. 



